TikTok is preparing to sunset its creator marketplace in favor of a new, more expanded experience, the company has informed businesses and creators via email. The online platform, which connects brands with creators for collaborating on ads and other sponsorships, will stop allowing creator invitations or the creation of new campaigns as of Saturday the company says.
On April 1, the Creator Marketplace will be fully shut down, and the website will redirect visitors to the new TikTok One creative platform instead.
While the stand-alone marketplace is going away, TikTok will continue to offer ways for brands and creators to connect through the TikTok One platform. In addition, the service will help video creators find inspiration, research trends, and connect with other experts for help with “native-looking” TikTok videos for their ad campaigns.
The site included TikTok trend tracker points to top trends, as well as top user-generated content, creators, hashtags, and songs. It also offers tips on how to use TikTok creative tools, ad products, and business accounts, among other things.
AI-enabled features are a part of TikTok One, too.
For instance, as a part of the transition, TikTok’s Video Generator tool, which offers an online editor where people can upload videos and add music, will also be shutting down. According to TikTok’s website, the tool will no longer be available on the TikTok Creative Center as of Friday.
Instead, users are being redirected to TikTok’s AI-powered Symphony Creative Studio.
Here, marketers can access a new AI assistant, the Symphony Assistant, that can help them to summarize trends, create TikTok-native scripts, brainstorm ideas, and more. They’ll also be able to create TikTok-style videos using AI inputs. In some cases, the AI may remix the brand’s existing footage and in other cases, digital avatars may be used to sell the product.
Videos can also be enhanced with captions, voices, music, and stickers and localized to other languages.
AI-powered Symphony features extend to TikTok’s Ads Manager where marketers can generate ads with a few inputs, then optimize those ads with the provided suggestions. Plus, they can make additional edits using other AI-powered features.
Another creative tool, the Script Generator, can create a TikTok video script after the advertiser enters relevant information like the product name, description, and related industry, among other things.
Ahead of the shutdown of the stand-alone Creator Marketplace, TikTok is encouraging advertisers to migrate their data from the site (or another dashboard called the TikTok Creative Challenge) to TikTok One.
The company first announced its plan to move its Creator Marketplace to TikTok One last May.